Why We Love Red Dead Redemption

With the release of Red Dead Redemption 2 on the horizon we take a look back at why we love the franchise.

Though Grand Theft Auto might be the first thing most people think of when the name “Rockstar” comes up, there’s no shortage of love for 2010’s stunning Red Dead Redemption. Rockstar San Diego’s second stab at the western genre, Redemption delivered a massive, beautiful, and deadly depiction of America and Mexico during the 19th century. On the heels of Rockstar’s announcement of Red Dead Redemption 2, we wanted to tell you why we personally love the open-world Western so much.

Spoilers ahead.

For the Love of the Genre

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More than anything else, I'm excited by those seven figures on the poster and about the prospect of a multiple-protagonist setup like the one GTA V pioneered. Rockstar nailed the laconic Man with No Name, Shane vs. the world approach in Red Dead Redemption, but there's a whole other world of great Western traditions built around teams and relationships. The Wild Bunch, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Stagecoach, The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and the Magnificent Seven all come to mind as potential inspirations. I want to see great writing and memorable playable characters thoughtfully employed in an interesting, interweaving story. -- Jared Petty

That Ending

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I have to issue a spoiler warning in case you haven't played it, but we can't talk about Red Dead Redemption without thinking of the ending. John Marston's story really was always about Redemption - he fought tirelessly, repeatedly used as a pawn, just to have his justice viciously denied in one final, impossible gunfight. It was a near-perfect, heartbreaking ending, with a solid balance of memorable tension and closure. Of course, we got to continue to play as Jack after John's death, which fulfilled a desperate need for revenge, and allowed players to continue chasing side-quests in the open world. -- Alanah Pearce

Undead Nightmare

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Like everyone else, I love Red Dead Redemption because it’s an excellent open-world game with a unique Western setting and one of gaming’s greatest anti-heroes. But my absolute favorite thing about it was the expansion Undead Nightmare, which is probably the most clever add-on for a game I’ve ever played. Rockstar perfected the Western video game, then turned it inside out and added zombies. It was a move no one was asking for, but turned out to be one of the funniest and imaginative open-world experiences Rockstar has dreamed up. So what really excites me about a new Red Dead is the possibility of a new Undead Nightmare. -- Daemon Hatfield

One of a Kind

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The thing that resonates with me about Red Dead Redemption is that it's sort of in a league of its own when it comes to video games. We have no shortage of terrifying horror games, exciting war games, and hilarious comedies. But the Western as a whole is so underrepresented in our medium. As someone who views the works of Sergio Leone, John Ford, and Clint Eastwood as some of the finest films ever made, Red Dead is one of the few games that ever managed to capture that same magical sense of awe, danger, and exploration that those classic movies bottled so expertly. Quietly riding my horse across a prairie as the blood-red sun set behind me made me feel so incredibly small in an impossibly large world, and I absolutely loved it. -- Marty Sliva

Crossing the Border

Red Dead Redemption totally changed my perspective of what developers are capable of creating. The game world had such a massive sense of scale, but unlike other virtual environments, the one in Red Dead Redemption was filled by an equally impressive sense of life. Every store, every shop keeper, every patron, musician, bar, hotel... all just felt so... real. One defining moment was the first time crossing into Mexico on horseback. Cresting that initial mountain with the perfectly queued music, looking to the horizon, and being overcome with the realization of just how much more there is to explore is one of the most unforgettable moments in my gaming history. -- Cisco Zarandin Araneta

Social Commentary

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Red Dead’s one of my favorite games for a lot of reasons - I mean, who doesn’t love taking down a posse of bandits and keel-hauling their leader back to jail, then wandering into the woods for days on end to hunt bears - but more importantly I think it’s historic setting allows for some of Rockstar’s best social commentary. GTA games offer some funny jabs at modern pop culture, but to me it always seemed a bit too on-the-nose, while Rockstar’s period pieces always pack more of a punch. “Boy, social media sure can be dumb sometimes!” is far less interesting to me than “How f***ing stupid is it that we didn’t let women vote until 1920.” Also, cowboy hats are cooler than trucker caps. Obviously. -- Jon Ryan

Those are just a few of the reasons that we here at IGN adore Red Dead Redemption. What do you think about Rockstar's Western?